Friday, 14 November 2008

Audiobook recommendation: "The Underwater Menace"

3 comments:

Come on, Spara, pull the other one. TUM isn't underrated and indeed its risible humor, B-movie plot and complete lack of gravitas have made it resoundingly popular over the last few years. Why, RTD himself wrote The Runaway Bride in blatant homage of Zaroff.

The most underated Doctor Who story ever is clearly Time and the Rani. Why you yourself don't campaign for it baffles me - it's got quarries, convincing alien monsters, gratuitous slaughter of young women, scientific basis in fact, an unusual format, an understated character study of the Doctor himself, amazing special effects, a strong ecological subtext, Venusian karate, history lessons about Pasteur and Einstein...

It even has a man commit suicide when confronted with the horror of life and is unable to cope with the guilt and shame of letting his daughter die - surely the UTMOST definition of the mature drive you want Doctor Who to take, as in your tale Conscience.

Frankly, the lack of TATR support on this blog shocks me to the core. Double standards or what.

It is a long time since I saw 'Time & the Rani'. I didn't think much of it as it came after a weak season and was followed by several of the worst stories ever. I'd like to see it again outside of this context.

Well, Spara, take it from me and my generation. Trial of a Time Lord didn't get screened in Australia for a while, so Time and the Rani started afresh after a special documentary on the pilot episode for Doctor Who and KLF's Doctor in the TARDIS.

It was incredibly popular with the amazing CGI beginning, the exciting pace, the brilliant imagination (tripwire bubble that turn you to skeletons), giant bloodsucking bats with four eyes, and the really rather subtle stuff about the Doctor and Mel: he completely trusts her, which is why he falls for the Rani's lies, its why he even wears the clothes he does - he trusts Mel that completely. The strong moral ending where Ikona turns aside the easy option doesn't get half as much recognition as it should.

In fact, S24-26 was very popular over here. And considering we only had S12-17 to compare it to, that shows we got to see a massive selection of stories and styles.

Your Favourite Ben Chatham Actor?

A BLOG FORDOCTOR WHO RELATEDDISCUSSION &BEN CHATHAM/OPERATION DELTASPIN OFF STORIES

ABOUT OPERATION DELTA

The Operation Delta stories are a fan fiction spin-off from Doctor Who. OPeration Delta is an organisation that investigates paranormal activity and alien encounters. It is led by Ben Chatham, a former Doctor Who companion, along with Katie Ryan and Kyle Scott.